Motherhood, pregnancy, and the negotiation of identity: The moral career of drug treatment

In this paper I seek to engage with literature on recovery by focusing on gendered identity and motherhood in accounts of pregnant and postpartum women. Interview accounts are analysed as the site of moral work where women use discursive strategies to present themselves as plausible mothers and locate themselves in relation to a moral career of drug treatment and motherhood. I make the case that this performative work entails the representation of lived practices as well as the presentation of self. I argue that opportunities need to be provided for pregnant and postpartum drug users to engage with services and that their performative work needs to be acknowledged by professionals in order that non-stigmatising identities can be endorsed.